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Shure Phono Cartridges

Flaps100

Flaps100

Active Member
Why has no one brought back this famous name in Phono Cartridges, and not just rip off AT rebadges. Seems from what I am reading the Record revival is still going strong. Be nice to have another choice in low to medium priced options on Cartridges. Seems like a no brainer for making money, wonder how many mfg of Turntables would offer an included Shure, be cool in my mind.
Shure 1.jpg
 
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While many companies have had periods of inferior products, shure has held solid for what, 80+ years? I don't think they have any interest in licensing their name or risking their reputation. The only way we get shure back is if they decide to do it themselves. They have held very tight to that name.

I would also like to see them reopen their manufacturing. It wasn't that long ago they stopped I'm sure they still have the tooling...
 
loudnoises said:
While many companies have had periods of inferior products, shure has held solid for what, 80+ years? I don't think they have any interest in licensing their name or risking their reputation. The only way we get shure back is if they decide to do it themselves. They have held very tight to that name.

I would also like to see them reopen their manufacturing. It wasn't that long ago they stopped I'm sure they still have the tooling...
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Shure should jump back in, would be a nice option for sure.
 
loudnoises said:
While many companies have had periods of inferior products, shure has held solid for what, 80+ years? I don't think they have any interest in licensing their name or risking their reputation. The only way we get shure back is if they decide to do it themselves. They have held very tight to that name.

I would also like to see them reopen their manufacturing. It wasn't that long ago they stopped I'm sure they still have the tooling...
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The M97xe wasn't highly regarded when compared to their earlier offerings, so they did fade towards the end. People blame the move to Mexico for manufacturing but the reality is Shure lost interest in producing cartridges.

The US company is unlikely to be resurrected but Jico has done a respectable job of keeping the torch lit.
 
Shure stopped making cartridges because even they admitted the qc was just awful.
People would the 97xe but unless you hit the lottery and got one that accidentally had a correctly made stylus , it was awful.
I bought and returned three before giving up.
Funny as people were ( maybe still? ) asking hundreds for nos examples on eBay .
Now, if they had trouble making them , what makes you think anyone else will have better luck ?
If someone were to resurrect the new era 97, that’d be swell. Jico has proved it can make a good replacement stylus , get a Chinese company to clone the body, use the same part number ( but not the Shure name ) and you’re in business I guess
 
I have never had a bad Shure cartridge

I started with the M3D in the 1970's and own just about every major model they produced

the last one I bought was the M97xE which was the bargain of the century, it was excellent sounding, tracking and the coolest looking cartridge they produced since the V15 V
 
malden said:
I have never had a bad Shure cartridge

I started with the M3D in the 1970's and own just about every major model they produced

the last one I bought was the M97xE which was the bargain of the century, it was excellent sounding, tracking and the coolest looking cartridge they produced since the V15
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My point is it’s a fact that they were usually defective and even Shure admitted this
They were likely so swamped with returns that it wax becoming unprofitable /hurting their rep.
If Shure, the company that made it said they had crap qc, you can take that to the bank!
“
For more than 90 years, Shure has been committed to manufacturing and delivering products of the highest quality, reliability, and value. This commitment requires consistency in materials, processes, and testing, as well the capacity to react to fluctuations in demand.

In recent years, the ability to maintain our exacting standards in the Phonograph Cartridge product category has been challenged, resulting in cost and delivery impacts that are inconsistent with the Shure brand promise.
 
I had a later 97xe and it dropped a channel on a regular basis. Had to keep reseating the stylus. I do like the M44-7 for changer and 78 work.
 
Very sad was back in the day ( (2010-2015ish)
When the 97xe was all the rage, for $10-$29 less
You could get a nos RadioShack rxt4 which was a relabeled new era 97, superior qc and it had tel scopic shank.
I bought three for around $60, wish I had bought ten more !
 
Flaps100 said:
Seems from what I am reading the Record revival is still going strong. Be nice to have another choice in low to medium priced options on Cartridges.
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agreed

Flaps100 said:
Seems like a no brainer for making money
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Shure did make money for decades

when vinyl made its revival, there were hoards of neo-vinyl-heads that had no idea what they were doing. They turned to the online forums to seek advice and to vent their frustration with what they thought were defective records, turntables, cartridges, etc but in reality it was their own ineptitude that was the cause of the majority of their problems

I suspect that Shure's decision to back out of the cartridge market was in part due to the unwarranted complaints and return of perfectly good cartridges
 
I have an M97xe body with both channels dead. It's the only cartridge of any brand or kind in my collection (including 4 other Shures) in such condition. By the sounds of it, it's not a one-off.
 
Shure is an ongoing concern so there will be no Shure cartridges unless they decide to make them. Back in the heyday of LPs the production volume was certainly huge. With volume comes supply chain control and internal control, both necessary for high quality. I don't know what happened near the end, but my Shure cartridges, including the M92ED and several V15 models, were very good. Not as good as my Ortofons that came later. If you don't have volume, you're a boutique manufacturer and have to work harder and spend more to maintain quality. If you don't have volume some parts will be impossible to obtain because nobody will get out of bed in the morning to bother with a tiny money-losing order. Keep in mind that almost everything to do with making a cartridge and stylus is fine skilled hand work under a microscope. You won't find people to do that work cheaply these days.
 
ConradH said:
Shure is an ongoing concern so there will be no Shure cartridges unless they decide to make them. Back in the heyday of LPs the production volume was certainly huge. With volume comes supply chain control and internal control, both necessary for high quality. I don't know what happened near the end, but my Shure cartridges, including the M92ED and several V15 models, were very good. Not as good as my Ortofons that came later. If you don't have volume, you're a boutique manufacturer and have to work harder and spend more to maintain quality. If you don't have volume some parts will be impossible to obtain because nobody will get out of bed in the morning to bother with a tiny money-losing order. Keep in mind that almost everything to do with making a cartridge and stylus is fine skilled hand work under a microscope. You won't find people to do that work cheaply these days.
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I think many of the individuals doing it today, for example the excellent retippers, do the specialized work primarily with expensive moving coil cartridges. What ConradH said makes complete sense to me. For relatively inexpensive cartridges, I think the future for most of us consumers is to be found in the high volume stylus manufacturers that provide good styli to support our cherished older cartridges that seem to last forever.
 
There was a feeling that the decline in quality was due to the offshoring. Not for lack of ability, but for lack of oversight. I watched this happen to my father's company thru the 90s and 2000s. They sent production to another country, but shockingly weren't able to recreate the 70 years of quality via email...

Just an opinion here.
 
A quick perusal of the Jico website will reveal that JICO is not only still making styli for quite a few of the Shure models but also selling JICO-manufactured M44 (they call them J44) cartridges and multiple stylus options for them. Other aftermarket manufacturers are still selling styli for Shure cartridges as well. I have a M95 with JICO HE stylus that still gets time on my turntables and sounds great.
 
I have a couple of made in Colombia TEI bonded conicals for the M44 that are superb repros of the original, right down to the soldered spring wire. Every bit as good as Jico but at a more affordable price point. Off-shoring manufacturing is doable provided the foreign company has a vested interest in the end product. Subbing it out to an anonymous 3rd party without oversight isn't likely to end well.
 
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